Courses

Reducing Emissions

"Take an energy excursion to investigate the sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the technologies currently applied to capturing, utilizing and storing this gas."

Summary

This lesson explores the various sources of carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions and the technologies for capturing, utilizing and storing this greenhouse gas. Motivation for this lesson is the application of existing and new technology for carbon capture, utilization and storage projects around the world, with particular examples of project in Texas. “Reducing Emissions” lays the foundation for understanding subsequent topics on CO2 enhanced oil recovery (utilization) and Class VI injection wells (storage).

Learning Outcomes

  • Explore various sources of CO2 emissions
  • Understand some of the basic chemistry and physics behind some current carbon capture technologies
    • post-combustion capture
    • pre-combustion capture
    • capture from industrial sources
    • direct air capture
  • Learn about some current uses of CO2 as a commodity
  • Investigate how CO2 is stored in subsurface geologic formations
  • Gain insight into several CO2 storage projects in Texas
    • Petra Nova Project near Houston, post-combustion capture
    • Permian Basin, direct air capture
Oklahoma Academic Standards
TEKS Standards
College Board Units and Topics
Next Generation Science Standards